LAVA POURS OUT OF VOLCANO ON LA PALMA

A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday, sending lava shooting into the air and streaming in rivers towards two villages from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.

Authorities had begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from nearby villages before the eruption at 3:15 p.m. on a wooded slope in the sparsely populated Cabeza de Vaca area, according to the islands' government.

Two hours later, with lava edging down the hillside from five fissures torn into the hillside, the municipality ordered the evacuation of four villages, including El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane.

After nightfall, video footage showed fountains of lava shooting hundreds of metres into the sky, and at least three incandescent orange rivers of molten rock pouring down the hill, tearing gashes into woods and farmland, and spreading as they reached lower ground.

One stream, several hundred metres long and tens of metres wide, crossed a road and began engulfing scattered houses in El Paso.

“When the volcano erupted today, I was scared. For journalists it is something spectacular. for us it is a tragedy. I think the lava has reached some relatives' houses,” local resident Isabel Fuentes, 55, told Spanish television TVE.

“I was 5 years old when the volcano last erupted (in 1971). You never get over a volcanic eruption,” added Fuentes, who said she had moved to another house on Sunday for her safety.

Spain's Civil Guard said it was helping to evacuate between 5,000 and 10,000 people.

Canary Islands President Angel Victor Torres told TVE public television that no injuries had been reported so far.

“In no circumstances go near the lava flow,” the municipality warned residents. “If there is volcanic ash, stay in your houses.”

Flights to and from the Canaries were continuing as normal, the airport operator Aena said.